'Brain rot' is currently word of the year. The term reflects a fear that 'excessive' computer use is damaging the IQ especially of young folk. Most of the support for this view, however, appears to be based on 'low quality' research. These studies have small sample sizes, often lack control groups, aren't peer-reviewed and are sometimes completely bogus. One example in the last-mentioned category, is a cited 'paper,' claiming that emails were as damaging as smoking marihuana. That was apparently based on a day's media consultation with a single psychologist. He apparently advised against making that claim. There never was any actual published paper. It appears evident that people have 'got it into their heads' that people's intelligence is declining. They have linked this decline to the the rapid adoption of computers and social media. Poorer quality claims of damage consequently receive massive media attention, whereas better studies showing benefits are largely ignored. Even meta-analyses (combining the findings of several studies) can be distorted by this process. This appears to be confirmation bias, folk accepting studies 'supporting' their beliefs and 'filtering out' contrary findings. (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jan/29/all-in-the-mind-the-surprising-truth-about-brain-rot). There's little doubt, however, that folk can be damaged by social media use. They can be bullied, sexually exploited and brainwashed. In deed, social media frequently makes use of confirmation bias. It often uses programmes to tell people what they want to hear and/or sell them something. The result is a lack of balanced, fair-presented information, rather than direct brain damage. Correlation doesn't establish causation. Many other things have happened in the last decade e.g. growing concerns about the environment; the Covid19 pandemic; outbreak of wars; economic crises etc.
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